DP’s Njoki again out of Busia race

Democratic Party candidate for the by-election for Busia LC5 chairman Deogratias Hasubi Njoki has been kicked out the race after his name was found missing in the voters’ register thus ineligible for nomination.

According to a letter to Njoki from the Simon Byabakama Mugenyi, Njoki was nominated under the names; Hasubi Deogratius Njoki, yet the said particulars are not in the voters’ register.

“In the view of the above, the Commission under MIN. CM360/2018resolved that the person nominated under the names Hasubi Deogratius Njoki is not a registered voter under the National Voters’ register and thus, overturned the returning officers’ decision to have you nominated for the Busia District Chairperson elective position.”

“By copy of this communication, both the complainant and returning officer, Busia Electoral Commission are notified accordingly.”

Njoki’s trouble follow a complaint from the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) which wrote to the Electoral Commission requesting to have Njoki disqualified from the race.

In a letter by the party’s director in charge of legal services, Oscar John Kihika, NRM alleges that the academic documents submitted by Njoki to the commission have different names from the ones on his national ID.

The ruling party says that at the time of nomination, Njoki’s academic documents bore Hasubi Deogratias Njoki while the National ID bears the name Hasubi Deogratias which is a contradiction.

“These are two different persons under the law and there was no legal document that was filed with the commission at least at the time of nomination to show that the two said persons are one and the same,” says the letter by Kihika on behalf of the NRM legal department.

“It is the role of the Electoral Commission to compile, maintain, revise and update the voter register and is on record that there is no person registered as Hasubi Deogratias  Njoki in the register for Busia District and as such making the nomination of Hasubi Deogratias Njoki is void.”

The National Resistance Movement legal department says Njoki ought to be thrown out of the race because he is not a registered voter in the area.

However, in a letter by the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) to the Electoral Commission dated August, 3, the body clears Njoki of any wrongdoing saying he changed the names and it was captured in their register.

“This is to confirm that Hasubi Deogratias Njoki changed particulars on the national identity card from Hasubi Deogratias to Hasubi Deogratias Njoki with the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) and his data appears in the national identification register,” says the letter Edwin Tukamuhebwa, the NIRA director in charge of registration and operations.

According to Njoki, NIRA omitted one of his names while printing his National ID and he has since rectified it with NIRA which has notified the EC. Njoki also claims he also supplied the EC copies of the original forms he filled when getting nominated.

However, EC faults Njoki for “failure to comply with the procedure and timeframe for the correction of particulars under the electoral laws.”

“The letter from NIRA dated August 3, 2018 confirming the change change of particulars from Hasubi Deogratius to Hasubi Deogratius Njoki was never lodged with the Commission prior to the update and display of the National Voters’ Register,” a statement from EC reads in part.

EC also faults Njoki for failure to disclose the changed particulars in the CLN Form 10 provided by the Electoral Commission for purposes of correction of particulars during “the display exercise conducted under section 25 of the Electoral Commission Act, Cap 10.”

Njoki faces a second withdraw from the race following a prior decision by himself to quit the race after he was given a government job last week.

In a letter to the Democratic Party Secretary General dated November 10, Njoki said having been appointed as a member of the Ugandan Human Rights Commission, he has officially pulled out of the race.

“I was dully nominated on November 6 as a candidate of Democratic Party to contest for the office of the chairman Busia district but on November 9, I received a copy of letter addressed to the speaker of parliament appointing me as a member of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, Njoki says in a letter copied to the DP president general and national party chairman.

In the letter Njoki defended his appointment as one which was initiated by himself way before the by election program kicked off, adding that he should not be blamed by anyone.

Njoki would then run to Kampala where he started chasing for his appointment letter before DP officials sat him down and talked him back to the race. He would later announce that he has returned.

“I have not abandoned the race and I am not abandoning it at any time. I am not taking up the offer.”

He explained that whereas the offer was a juicy one after numerous calls and realization of the trust put into him by the Democratic Party and other opposition parties, he had decided to turn down the government job.

“Whereas the offer has a lot of benefits at personal level and I could do something to promote and fight for human rights while on the commission, the timing of the appointment was unfortunate.”

He said by allowing to pull out of the race the opposition would be left without any candidate in the Busia LC5 polls, a thing he said would look ugly.

Njoki however applauded President Museveni for entrusting and appointing him to the body adding that he said still longs to part because he would serve the entire country.